Imperial units are stupid

[Huxley]

the most accurate way of measuring your waist is..do your jeans feel tight???

[buck]

I have been pulled over several times in the Province of Quebec for exceeding the speed limit. The signs simply say the speed limit is 100, and I ask why am I being stopped when I was only going 95. I do this only in English as I am only fluent in French, I then get told what my mistake was, and am often let off while the gendarme mouths to his buddy "Imbecile Americaine" but not always. I always pay for my ticket however. Quebec needs the money. Canada is fully decimalized.

[Aleksandr]

You ask for pints of beer because that's how it's sold. If it was in litre or halves you'd ask differently. When was the last time you asked for a gill of spirits for example? You have single or double whisky and soda...

 

I buy my milk in litres anyway - don't think I've ever bought it in pints.

 

And half a mile is 800m, not 1600m

Nice one!

 

---------- Post added 27-09-2016 at 21:02 ----------

 

I still find myself converting Metric back to Imperial my brain understands it better even tho Metric is simpler.

I think part of your brain may have died.

[unbeliever]

I have been pulled over several times in the Province of Quebec for exceeding the speed limit. The signs simply say the speed limit is 100, and I ask why am I being stopped when I was only going 95. I do this only in English as I am only fluent in French, I then get told what my mistake was, and am often let off while the gendarme mouths to his buddy "Imbecile Americaine" but not always. I always pay for my ticket however. Quebec needs the money. Canada is fully decimalized.

 

Canadan coinage is a bit more sensible as well. Smallest is 5c, then it goes 10c 25c (should really be 20 but okay), 50c, $1 and $2. American goes 1c (may as well be 0c), 5c (what happened to 2c), 10c, 25c and that's it. No 50c and the $1 is a note.

So in the US you have the valueless 1c pieces knocking around everywhere and you're into notes before you have the price of a kitkat. I've never understood why this doesn't get fixed. But I'm willing to bet it's the same reason that they hang onto their ridiculous bronze age units.

Edited September 27, 2016 by unbeliever

[*_ash_*]

Canadan coinage is a bit more sensible as well. Smallest is 5c, then it goes 10c 25c (should really be 20 but okay), 50c, $1 and $2. American goes 1c (may as well be 0c), 5c (what happened to 2c), 10c, 25c and that's it. No 50c and the $1 is a note.

So in the US you have the valueless 1c pieces knocking around everywhere and you're into notes before you have the price of a kitkat. I've never understood why this doesn't get fixed. But I'm willing to bet it's the same reason that they hang onto their ridiculous bronze age units.

 

I guess that a lot of coinage in US just goes into tins and pots ready for one of the counting machines, or charities.

 

After a couple of days I stopped using coins there and just used notes and threw the change into a pile everyday.

[spilldig]

I guess that a lot of coinage in US just goes into tins and pots ready for one of the counting machines, or charities.

 

After a couple of days I stopped using coins there and just used notes and threw the change into a pile everyday.

 

It's a bit of a struggle spending change in America because of the local tax rate. I'e, you can look at the price of the things and get the exact money ready and then when you go to pay the local tax is added on so rather than hold the queue up you get a note out and pay and then get another load of change back.

Mind you, I like the way all local phone calls are toll free so at least you don't need change for those.

Edited September 28, 2016 by spilldig

[unbeliever]

It's a bit of a struggle spending change in America because of the local tax rate. I'e, you can look at the price of the things and get the exact money ready and then when you go to pay the local tax is added on so rather than hold the queue up you get a note out and pay and then get another load of change back.

 

Yes the 8% problem. It's usually 8%. That means that you can't work out what you're actually going to have to pay from the prices shown, unless you have the faculty to work out what 108% of the displayed price is.

Now as physical money disappears from the system the problem will largely go away but it's a completely unnecessary problem created for reasons I don't understand.

[Robin-H]

Yes the 8% problem. It's usually 8%. That means that you can't work out what you're actually going to have to pay from the prices shown, unless you have the faculty to work out what 108% of the displayed price is.

Now as physical money disappears from the system the problem will largely go away but it's a completely unnecessary problem created for reasons I don't understand.

 

It varies state by state does it not, which makes it even harder, and a lot of states don't even have nice round figures (sales tax in Missouri is 4.225%, Minnesota 6.875%, for example).

 

When you combine local and state sale taxes, practically every state has a wonderfully complex tax rate that you would need to figure out before purchasing in order to get the right change ready.

 

I think I'd just stay in New Hampshire.

 

http://taxfoundation.org/article/state-and-local-sales-tax-rates-2016

[Annie Bynnol]

The US product tax system is much fairer and much less open to commercial abuse than in the UK.

 

Tax rate are clearly visible on each product.

In the UK we have little idea of which product carries which rate of VAT eg chocolate biscuits, bars, cereal, cereal bars, confectionary etc..

 

The cost of the product is visible.

In the UK we buy on the basis of product + tax, how convenient it is that shops here round up the prices and pocket the increase.

 

PS The USA were the first country to go (partially) metric.

[MSYltd]

Lets agree that metric units are best for engineering and imperial for customary organic measures.

Your weight fluctuates within half a stone everyday, waist measurements are ok done to an inch.

Beer can be sold in continental style half a litre glasses but pints are ok too.

But you don't want your space probe with all that confusion of different units.